Acting On Love

The next day was probably one of the most nerve-racking days of my life. I couldn't sit still as I watched the others act. I found it hard to even look at Ville. Did I really have the guts to tell him? How would that conversation even go?

I told myself to just breathe. My eyes inevitably landed on him. His eyes caught mine and seemed to hold them in place. He smiled, to my surprise. I smiled back nervously.

I can do this, I thought.

Class ended after an hour of exchanging curious glances with him. His eyes gave nothing away, but I knew there must have been a reason why he was watching me so much. I hesitated, in a way not wanting to leave, but in the end, I was the first to be out of the theatre, anyway.

I walked quickly to lunch. When I turned the corner into the door of the lunch hall, I saw Ville's figure in the distance, walking from the theatre. I sighed and stepped into the canteen. He even looked good from a distance...

I couldn't stomach eating much lunch, so I sipped on a carton of juice as Lisa ate. She always seemed to eat salads for lunch. Maybe that was why she had such a good figure.

She caught on to my nervous mood pretty quickly.

"Kristen, what's up?" she asked, looking concerned.

I sighed, feeling the nerves get worse. "I'll tell you everything tonight, ok?"

"Is this about the guy?" she asked, leaning in closer as soon as things got interesting.

I nodded, looking at the table. Then, as if my heart sensed whenever he came near, my eyes were pulled to the door, where he stepped in. His eyes scanned the hall, but never met mine. Then he went and bought his food. I looked back at Lisa, hoping she hadn't noticed who I was looking at, but thankfully she had already gone back to her salad.

I glanced over to the table next to ours, to see Jake sitting with the new Juliet. I secreted a smile. At least he'd found someone else...someone who didn't already have their heart stolen by someone who was unreachable.

The rest of the day passed routinely. The fact that I still hadn't managed to even say a word to him - yet alone tell him - dawned on me like a heavy rain cloud, waiting to pour down on me.

By the time 5 o'clock had arrived, I had basically given up. He'd most likely left campus and gone home, although the school was still lively, which kept my false hope up. I just had one thing left to do - go to the library on the first floor, and find a decent read. These days I never had anything good to do with my time or my mind, except to think of Ville.

I leaned against the wall and pressed the button for the lift. As the doors opened, my heart took a leap as Ville turned the corner,and began heading towards the lift, where I was. I quickly shied away and stepped into the lift, pressing the button for the first floor. I rested against the side and closed my eyes, sighing. My heart was still feeling the affects of seeing him.

Someone else stepped into the lift, though. Oh, no. I opened my eyes to Ville, who stood on the opposite side of the lift.

"You don't look happy to see me," he laughed, but something in his eyes said that this wasn't funny to him.

"No, I'm just...tired."

He nodded, and looked at the closing doors of the lift. The lift began to go up. I felt the urge to say something to him, but we'd be on the next floor in less than ten seconds, so I kept my mouth shut.

A sudden crack of metal made my eyes shoot back to his in worry. The lift came to an abrupt halt, and the light of the lift disappeared.

"Oh God..." I whispered through the darkness.

"Kristen, are you ok?" I heard Ville's soft voice whisper to me through the darkness.

"I think so. Where are you?" I whispered back.

After a few seconds, I felt his hand find mine. "I'm here," he finally replied.

Almost all of my fear left me, since I was stuck in that lift with him.

"What happened?"

"Power cut, I assume," he answered, still very formally. His hand was still wrapped round mine. I heard him breath so calmly through the darkness.

I pulled out my phone, which provided the lift with a little light. The blue glow dimly lit both of our faces. He smiled at me comfortingly.

"What do we do?" I whispered, not really sure why I was still whispering.

"We'll have to wait until they fix it. Are you ok?" he asked again.

I nodded. He gently rubbed his thumb against my hand. I felt like I could have died at that moment. After a few minutes, his thumb stopped rubbing my hand. I looked up at him.

"Kristen, I can't do this..." he whispered, looking at the floor.

"They'll probably fix the power soon," I said, not really sure what he meant.

"No, I mean I can't pretend anymore."

I looked at him, completely breathless.

"I've tried for too long acting like nothing's going on. I've pretended, since the moment that we met, that you didn't matter to me. I've tried to convince myself over and over again, but I just can't do it anymore."

"Ville, what do you mean?" I stuttered, still not convinced. For all I knew, this was just a hallucination.

"I can't ignore you anymore, Kristen. My heart forbids it," he said, taking his hand away from mine. "I'm so sorry for putting you in this position. I'm your teacher, for goodness' sake..."

"No, don't be sorry."

He looked up at me, confused.

"I can't get you out of my head..." was all I could muster up the courage to say.

I never actually saw what happened next, since I dropped my phone on the lift floor, but his soft lips were against mine within seconds. My fingers twined through his curly brown hair; he pushed me against the back of the lift.

The feeling of his lips locking with mine was at least a thousand times better than anything Jake could ever have given me. The feeling in my gut felt like something that nothing could compare to.

But the moment didn't last long enough - the lights came back on.

"Ville, the cameras..." I whispered, breaking the kiss.

He froze on the spot. The doors opened behind him. Then he was gone.